Online Newsletter

Excerpted from our print newsletter. See the printed newsletter for detailed
Field Trip directions and reports, for phone and addresses for yard visits and
additional articles. Join now to
obtain the benefits of full membership!

UPCOMING MEETING IN DADE COUNTY

Stroll through the native garden of a chapter member and
then spend the rest of the evening socializing with other native plant fans.
This meeting is for FNPS members and their guests only. If you arent
a member, why not join now so you can enjoy all the activities?

July 25 meeting: Don Keller will speak about native
epiphytes. The public is invited.

August: No meeting in Dade, and no newsletter. Good
time to study all those plant books you bought over the past couple years.

UPCOMING FIELD TRIP IN DADE COUNTY

Field trips are for the study of plants and enjoyment
of nature by FNPS members and their invited guests. Collecting is not permitted.
If you arent a member, why not join now so you can enjoy all the activities?

Sunday, July 9: Field trip to two pinelands in South
Dade. First, a visit to a Dade County park will allow us to compare
the area which was being prepared for a burn when we visited there two years
ago. Roger Hammer of Miami-Dade County Park and Recreations Natural
Areas Management will accompany us to this county park.

Then we will go across the street to a pineland owned
by chapter members. This natural area, adjacent to their home, is a continuation
of a county EEL site. Any who wish to may linger and tour their garden,
which includes natives, butterfly gardens and more.

Saturday, July 29: Yard visits in Cutler Ridge.
We will visit the gardens of two members in Cutler Ridge to learn more about
their native plants and how to use some of the plants in landscapes, how
to propagate them.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES IN THE KEYS

Note: All Dade Chapter members are welcome at
all chapter activities. The following are planned by the Keys Activities
Committee. For more information, call Jim Duquesnel at John Pennekamp Coral
Reef State Park, 305-451-1202.

No information was available at the time of this printing,
but meetings and trips are planned and coming up soon. Please call for information
if you have not received a separate notice by the time you receive this
newsletter.

OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

The 6th Coral Gables North American Butterfly
Association Fourth of July Butterfly Count (not on the 4th!)
will probably be held on July 22. Please contact Bob Kelley at 305-666-9246
or if you are interested in participating. Beginners are welcome!
There will be groups at the Deering Estate/Chapman Field, Fairchild Tropical
Garden/Matheson Hammock, and Crandon Park/Cape Florida.

Butterfly Garden Watchers are also needed. The
count Circle includes all of Key Biscayne, most of Coral Gables, and Pinecrest
and nearby areas. Bob is also organizing a local chapter of NABA.
The first meeting will be some time this summer. Please call Bob to learn
more about these activities.

ONE MAN'S WEED IS ANOTHER MAN'S WEED, TOO by Roger L. Hammer

[ An
excerpt from an article in the printed newsletter. ]

Weeds are known by everyone. Many are global travelers and their place
of origin has long ago been lost to history, but few people think of their
nativity as they try to yank them up by the roots or spray them with herbicide.
I hope it doesn't come as too much of a surprise to learn that many of those
"weeds" that we battle in our southern Florida yards and gardens are actually
native species. They are plants that have given up their historic habitats
and taken to the roadsides, vacant lots, agricultural fields and, of course,
our gardens.

Remember that a "weed" is often described as a plant out of place,
so the old adage that "one man's weed is another man's wildflower," is correct.
Take Spanish needles, Bidens alba var. radiata, for instance. It
is a native herbaceous species with stick-like seeds that cling to clothing,
fur, and feathers and is, perhaps, one of the most ubiquitous native weeds
in much of Florida. But to butterfly enthusiasts it is a tolerable weed
because, if you find a patch of it you will also find butterflies galore
visiting the daisy-like blossoms comprised of white ray flowers and yellow
disk flowers. In my own yard I mow it when it looks ragged, and keep it
when it is at its prime. Not only is it a superb butterfly attractor, its
leaves also serve as larval food for the dainty sulphur butterfly. If you'd
like to know more, the tender new growth, when cooked as a green offers
more available iron than spinach and the clear juice from bruised stems
will stop small cuts from bleeding.

[In the printed newsletter,
the Roger discussion includes prickly poppy, Argemone mexicana and
coinwort, Centella asiatica. Join
now to obtain
the benefits of full membership!]

It concludes:

One problem plant that I don't mind saying bad things about is possum grape,
Cissus verticillata (= C. sicyoides). This grape relative
is downright evil if it invades your premises. Even the smallest bit of
the vine left in a tree will result in long, thin roots emerging from the
errant piece and these can hang down ten or fifteen feet. When they touch
the ground they root and, by that time, the vine likely has a strong foothold
in the canopy of the tree or shrub that it's using for support. Yes, this
is a native species, but an interesting note was made by the late Dr. Julia
Morton. She stated that David Fairchild apologized for introducing this
rambunctious vine from Java but Dr. Morton defended Fairchild by pointing
out that it was already present in Florida as a native plant. Perhaps Fairchild's
Java strain has given our plants unwanted vigor. It is not uncommon to see
possum grape covering fencerows and completely enshrouding fruit trees in
groves. Once established, it is difficult to control.

So, while it is true that many of the yard and garden plant pests that
we battle each year are introduced from other parts of the world, it is
important to realize that many "weeds" are Florida natives. That may not
mean too much, however, if they're taking over your vegetable garden or
scrambling around in your home landscape. And get this: in a pamphlet entitled
"Florida Weeds" published by the Florida Cooperative Extension Service,
Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (1977), they list saw palmetto,
Serenoa repens, and corkystem passionflower, Passiflora suberosa,
as weeds. I suppose that proves that one man's weed really is another man's
wildflower. Don't even get me started on their pamphlet on how to control
atala butterfly larvae on your coontie!